of state kerry seems intent on avoiding diplomatic disasters, especially in his first meeting with russia. >> we want to reset -- >> reporter: like his predecessor infamous misspelled reset button. >> we worked hard to get the right russian word. >> you got it wrong. >> reporter: kerry's photo op of the russian foreign minister was over in a minute. they seemed eager to get down to business. but when the cameras left kerry and sergei spent two hours together nearly half of which was devoted syria. >>> let's see if anything positive emerged from that meeting. we'll stay in touch with jill dougherty. let's get back to our top story. three days left to see if those forced spending cuts, $85 billion over the next seven months go into effect. our chief political analyst has been talking to senior administration officials. is there any progress being made at all to avert those cuts between now and friday? >> sure doesn't seem so. the senior administration officials i spoke with seem completely dug in on this. they are not having meetings with the house speaker or the republican leader in the se